The Price We Pay
by 2featherbraids
Summary: The reputation for the mercenary group called 'Blue Ivy' by all had been building up for years, expanding just under the radar. It was said that not three years after its making, two war-scarred young men appeared to its members bringing with them the most amazing discovery since man first stumbled upon alchemy in the form of a baby girl. Or, at least, that's how the story goes.


Chapter One

The energy all around bubbled not unlike the effect of blowing through a straw in water. It slid off of the people in the house and the surrounding area in gentle waves, bumping against me with the motions of a sluggish tide.

I shifted positions on my cushion to prevent my butt from falling asleep and sipped my hot chocolate. It was still warm and helped keep me relaxed, for it would be worse otherwise.

Light, barely discernible ripples slid across the 'surface' as people came in and out of range. A bigger set of ripples, as if someone had dropped a rock in the water, radiated from one side as someone with more than just Potential entered.

What I really wanted to do in this moment was to get up and walk around, but I didn't know the place well enough to pace. Instead, I took another sip of my drink before abandoning it to play with the hem of my shirt.

The disturbance grew as more with Discipline joined the first and started to advance. Predictably, they slowed a little as they were no doubt starting to feel the effects.

Sighing, I raised a hand in the hope of getting someone's attention. It had been dead quiet for the last fifteen minutes, so for all I knew, no-one was even in the room with me. It was Den who answered.

"What is it Ria? Are they here?" he asked in a whisper. He probably didn't want to alarm the protectees.

"Yes," I replied, voice just as low. I judged the amount of Discipline before adding, "Only three so far. Nothing we can't handle."

"Hmm," was the hummed response, this time coming from Lee.

The silence didn't last five seconds after that before it was broken by the nervous voice of the man who had hired us. "Three?!" he choked out from the direction of the door, clutching at the frame for support and face slack in incredulity.

That's how I _imagined_ he was any way. I couldn't have been that far off if Den's snort of amusement was anything to go by.

"Hmm," was Lee's repeated reply, followed by the scraping of two chares across tile; I wondered how long they had been sitting at the table. "In that case," Lee continued in a more professional voice, "it would be best if you gathered your family together and brought them in here."

The man must have nodded because his footsteps started to move away and I could hear him calling for his wife. Den's tread swiftly followed. The hair on the back of my neck started to tingle as the ones' with Discipline got closer.

Five hundred yards away, then four. They must have sped up because now they were only two hundred away and coming fast. "Hurry up!" I yelled as all my hair stood strait out from its place on my head like it was full of static electricity.

There was a pounding of footsteps down the hall as two sets of adult strides, neither of them Den's, came running into the room, gasping. A shout from the little girl was loud in my ears, which did not help in the slightest with them popping.

A squeal of tires, a shattering of glass from the floor above, and they were in. I had a split second to change my position on my cushion before I was hit with the all too familiar sensation of someone slamming two pan lids together in my head. It resounded through my skull and made my teeth rattle.

I covered my mouth for all the good it would do and concentrated on staying alert and focused. It took a deliberate act to keep my muscles from clenching. I felt Lee brush his hand across the crown of my head as he ran quickly from the room. My stomach knotted as the seconds passed and the attempts of the Disciplined grew with their desperation. Seconds became minutes and those minutes drew out for what felt like days as I sank into the Awareness.

Nothing mattered more at that moment than the rise and fall of the Disciplineds' energy. The way they continually tried -and failed- to push it out of them and into their surroundings. The way it declined after every attempt before increasing again; two, three, four times as strong as the first.

I frowned at their persistence. If they kept it up at this pace, I was going to have an upset stomach well into the night. I groaned as the dishes in the cabinets around the room rattled and plaster dust trickled down from the ceiling to coat everything. A splintering of wood along with a multitude of curses could be heard as someone was thrown through a door into another room.

Vibrations ran down the wall I was leaning against and the distinct _crack_ of plaster and a _whoosh_ followed as a head was shoved into the wall. Little droplets splattered on my head and dripped down my face. The pipe in the wall behind me, the one that fed the sink, had burst somewhere near the ceiling even though I knew no-one had touched it yet. One of the attackers was probably a water specialist.

It must have been at least six-seven minutes since the whole thing had started. Lee and Den tended to wrap it up as fast as possible to minimize the strain, what could be keeping them? It sounded like it had been slanted there way since the beginning, but what did I know?

Before I could worry myself sick, the much quieter and easier to ignore noises that had been coming through the floor –grunts, yells, thumps- stopped abruptly in time for all of us to hear the unmistakable sound of more than one body hitting the floor. What was more, the Discipline pulled back in an elastic-like reaction to seep back into a dormant state.

All three were down for the count.

I couldn't help smiling in relief. _Finally_. It had been a long time since we had failed on a job, but that didn't change the fact that it was possible. The thought was always there regardless of how easy or difficult the job was.

Den came bounding down the stairs with a whoop and scooped me up into a hug, making me squeak as I was suddenly swung through the air. My stomach lurched. He laughed at my reaction before hurriedly setting me on my feet.

"Ria, you're looking a bit green," he said worriedly. Cloth rustled and I guessed he was rooting around in the bag. A small round ball was put in my hand and the strong aroma of orange filled my nostrils. It immediately made me feel calmer, though I knew from experience it would take a couple hours for my stomach to settle.

Den left to help Lee with pick up while I regained my seat and ate. The adult male protectee, the father, left to assess the damage and take a look at the attackers. The adult female protectee followed, ignoring her husband's protests. A strangled not-so-manly cry and the faint sound of retching made me think maybe _he_ should have stayed behind with the child, which, for whatever reason, had decided to stay here. I could hear her breathing across the room from where I sat.

She was elevated and about six feet from my place on the floor, so she must have been sitting at the table. I wasn't very fond of tables. After that one time in Lenor or Le-or (or something like that) I refused to sit on any kind of raised surface while on a job. I hoped the girl wouldn't talk to me, but I guess that was too much to ask because the minute it crossed my mind, she started asking questions.

"So, were you scared when the fight was going on? Do you guys do this all the time? Are they your brothers or just friends? Do you live with them? Your hair sure is a funny color, did you die it? How old are you? Do you go to school? Have you-"

And on it went without a single gap for me to jump in and give an answer even if I had wanted too. I swore the girl was going to kill herself from oxygen deprivation if she didn't take a breath soon.

Footsteps came down the stairs and I turned to look pleadingly at Lee. Praying it was time to leave, I asked, "Everything set?"

"Yes."

The girl had (thankfully) shut up when he had entered the room and actually _gulped_ when he spoke. She obviously found him a little intimidating. I thought I had better leave before she got over it; I didn't think it would last long. I sighed tiredly and stood with cushion in hand, cracking my back loudly.

"Then let's _go home_."

A\N: So…what do you think? Don't leave a girl hanging and drop a review on your way out. …..Please?


End file.
